Strategic Course Designing and Effective Teaching Methods of Sociology

What Do You Want to Accomplish?

Let us start with a question as to – what do we want accomplish as teachers of Social Science – is more directed to self than to others who may or may not have a stake in teaching and learning. The question seems relevant for us because in general, the purpose of expansion in education in India in most of the decades of 20th century was to ensure a disciplined and competent workforce, but that has undergone a sea change in last two decades. Social Sciences in general and Sociology in particular at undergraduate level in India is continuously challenged in an age where an imperative of capital under globalization demands/expects the students to be ready for the travail and trials of market. In view of this, the aim, objectives and priorities of all the stakeholders in higher education of social sciences, especially the teachers, students and their parents, and academic institutions with their management trained administrators, have changed. The paper will, therefore, try to locate the kind of forces that have been active in our country in recent years that have precipitated the changes in our field. Briefly then the paper will turn to deal with the changing aims, objectives and priorities of the stakeholders. Next the paper turns to address, another coterminous issue, which is course designing. Here the focus will on critical examination of the existing course design and syllabus of Sociology for the undergraduate students of West Bengal. Based on this analysis, the paper will try to offer some strategies for undergraduate course designing in Sociology that takes into account the nature of changes in the greater society and understand the basis of concomitant transformations. Finally, we will try to examine the delivery and dispensation method of Sociology teaching in undergraduate cases. Through this, we can understand the efficiency and utility of various methods of teaching possible at undergraduate level, thus delineating a frame of reference which accounts for the distinction and interrelation between the course design, course requirements and teaching practices.

Let us get clearly in mind at this point that we are not concerned with the entire teaching community, or even with the occupational culture and work drive of all persons employed in an institution the higher learning because they vary widely in their vision and objectives, infrastructure facilities, administrative procedures, nature of accomplishment, etc. Since there is no exact prototype to which they all conform, and university milieu in which social scientists work vary widely, according to the kind of knowledge they profess to advance and the type of humans they intend to produce, we will do well to remember that there is no one set of conditions or solutions that can address the necessities of contemporary society.

In last two decades, India has experienced an unprecedented economic resurgence. The country has witnessed a structural shift in GDP growth, propelled largely by new investments and the growth of the value enhancing services sector. Globally, India commands a new admiration and speculation of increasingly being seen as part of a new axis of economic power in the world. Of course, there are reasons to believe in the Indian Dream. In 2007, India joined the ranks of twelve countries with a trillion dollar GDP in nominal terms. Future predictions by experts and academics indicate that real GDP could grow at a compound rate of six to nine percent over the next to decades, implying a size of economy (by 2025) that would range between US$ three trillion to US$ five trillion. By this time, India’s population is expected to grow to 1.4 billion, more than 67% of whose, accounting for nearly 940 million people, will belong to productive working age group, and 42% of the total population will be below the age of 25 years. This demographic dividend will keep the country young that can significantly drive the development process in the country. McKinsey Global Institute predicts that by 2025 average household disposable income will be three times than now, registering a far higher growth rate than what has been witnessed till now. It is also estimated that the middle class in Indian society will reach 41% of the total population of the country, thus will amount to more than five hundred eighty three million people, triggering new impulses to sustain high-growth trajectory.

Despite all these glowing predictions, it may remain a distant dream for a country like India to realize it because the path is strewn with several fundamental challenges that can seriously undermine the growth process and ensnarl the pace of growth in the years to come. Traditional three-headed social problems: Poverty-Illiteracy-Unemployment remains the biggest stumbling block for a post-colonial country like India. New sets of problems have taken shape in last quarter of 20th Century when policy makers and market participants have prioritized economic activities for short term gains. Market forces, as they stand today, do not adequately reward longer term objectives of building a sustainable economy. The field of economy has become further murky with the critical role played by the MNC’s and TNC’s. The interest of the country has been compromised in most erstwhile third-world countries. In the same period, we have seen that world politics and international relations have taken a path that calls for complete re-orientation in the policies of external affairs of a country. Boundaries and sovereignty of nation states have been put in stress with the changing understanding of concepts like space and time. Growing interconnections and interdependencies, increasing volume of cultural interactions and intermixing among different cultures, and commonality of problems for the world populace have unleashed unique discontents, multitude of challenges, and ingenious localized responses. No one remains untouched; therefore, all the social institutions – marriage, family, economy, education, politics, and religion – are affected by these forces in contemporary society. Issues like group relationship, organizational culture, media representation, health, gender, ethnicity, class, law and legal procedures, movements, marginal and vulnerable groups – all have taken a political connotation.

Challenges like inclusive growth and sustainable livelihood, secured energy source, up gradation of agricultural productivity and food supply, and most importantly environmental security and climate change for the future of human kind need a clear vision and mission that calls for transformational change. It is not only important to create the right policy environment, but also to ensure its longer term orientation, given the nature of investment and the long gestation period of fruition. It is critical that we engage in finding new means and policy initiatives to support in accelerating equitable and sustainable growth in the relatively marginalized sectors. Policy support and financial mechanisms will necessarily have to be longer term oriented, for which it is equally important to protect such policies from any adverse mid-course changes that could impact the very viability of these long term projects. Transformational change for any country is primarily about improving the quality of life of its people providing them a secure future. Sustainable development and inclusive growth in this age of globalization are approaches to achieving the super-ordinate goal predicted.

Course Designing

Any vibrant society continuously desires its knowledge transmission process across generation to be in tune with relevance and application of it. However, the under graduate course of Sociology (both honours and general) in our University to large extent do not fulfill this goal or desire. A few examples towards this end can substantiate this point better.

The papers dealing the basic concepts of Sociology that the new entrants in Honours course read is designed as per the content of a single book of foreign origin. This has resulted in a tremendous amount of inhibition among the students in understanding the need to read them, the connection and utility it has for the whole course. The picture is further complicated by the fact that examination dominated system does not leave the student to take initiative of their own to learn the implicit in what it infers. In the process, they end up not understanding all other papers like thought, theory, Indian society etc. Learning research technique is another area, crammed within a single (100 marks) paper, creates sufficient confusion in the mind of the students for them to derive any benefit. The paper is divided in to three almost equal parts containing methodology, quantitative analysis and field work. From personal experience, it can be stated that the students are at best ambivalent about the connection between these three parts.

The muddle created at this level manifests its negative impact on the students at a later stage when they
1. go for post graduation: when they have to relearn every thing they have been taught at the former level; this disallows the university to upgrade its syllabus with the current innovations and research in the discipline;
2. go for professional examinations like civil services or subject eligibility test like NET/SLET/SET: though the syllabus of these examinations are in consonance with whatever is taught in various universities of the country, but number of failure in these examinations point to the fact the students are unable to think analytically once the pattern of examination changes;
3. go for employment in civil society organizations: they are unable to do field work whose results can be found to be reasonably valid;
4. go for employment in media and advertising houses: very few have been able enter and succeed.

From the above stems criticism of our discipline in present times that can be broadly divided into two themes. First, the courses offered are considered a result of life-long ritualized practices by arm-chair academics and teachers, therefore are not pragmatic enough to be applicable in real life. Second, as because these courses does not provoke critical thinking, does not motivate to appraise life-events, does not encourage understanding of differences in society, and does not break the hurdles for free flow of knowledge. What remains unaccounted for in all this is the role of the institutions where these courses are taught. It is important to remember that most of the undergraduate Colleges are cash-poor and do not have the infrastructure to support the requirement of the students and the teachers. Further, lack of autonomy of these institutions force them to unquestioningly accept the diktats on the university as well as the government

In context of the above, it will be useful to see how we can overcome the above problems. First, keeping the interest of the students in mind, the following aspects are very important:

 To be aware of the diverse categories of children coming out of school who join the undergraduate courses,
 To craft micro-planning at college level the basis for assessment and identification of necessities of these children,
 To formulate strategies that are diverse and flexible suiting to the needs of the students admitted,
 To design the course content and pedagogy responsive to the requirements of a first generation learner, so that they can acquire age-appropriate concepts, skills and competencies.

Second, the following changes in the institutions of under graduate studies can improve the performance of its students:

 The College environment should promote active participation among students in every kind of activity;
 Instead of promoting break-neck competition and an examination oriented system, the Colleges can promote positive interdependence, interaction, accountability, interpersonal skills, group activity and processing. These will inculcate qualities among students like leadership, independent decision-making, conflict management, trust-confidence, and communication.
 The above can be done only as shadow curriculum with the help of the teachers within the class room.

Third, for a strategic course designing, adopting the following steps can be found to be useful:

 Deciding what kind of capacity building the course wants to accomplish;
 Defining and limiting course content not in terms of a content of a book but by stressing core concepts, enduring social issues, and trimming of optional areas;
 Structuring the course in a fashion where it moves from immediate reality to distant context and abstract theories;
 Deciding upon on the referred text book not only depending upon content that is lucid, informative and correct, but also by its availability in market, cost and size.



Teaching Practices

We can now move from problems of discourse, to inherent power structures and finally unto the actual teaching practice. With the creation of a global market in higher education that has given rise to an online environment, traditional learning in is under threat. However, this has enlarged the scope and reach of higher education in general, and institutions of higher education now are able to forge partnership and pool their expertise, and offer it to a world-wide clientele of students. Individuals at any stage of their life and of any profession are now enabled to undertake education of whatever personal interest without carrying out the traditional formality of entering educational institution. Nevertheless, the problem of hidden curriculum that sustains the process of social reproduction that endorses the existing inequalities embedded in every layer of the society continues to thrive under the circumstances. The utopian beliefs of a democratic society like India of assumed similarities in capability or accomplishment among students severely hampers the distribution of limited resources in higher education. In the process, the elites in the society continue to corner the biggest share of all the plans and programs undertaken by the state.

Higher education for both students and teachers is much like entering into matrimony: every person concur that it is a significant episode in their life but there are so many intangibles factors involved that nobody knows exactly how it is going to workout in their life. This is further complicated by the fact that chance and the pressure of circumstances play just as decisive a role as sentiment and rational choice. Under the given situation, certain derived problems emerge that dilute the nature and practice of teaching-learning of Sociology. For example, the deterministic nature of Course designing and deliberate teaching practice to fit in a rigid framework leaves the students of Sociology high and dry in understanding the logic and connectivity among the divisions in the syllabus. Generally, teachers in colleges and universities seek to provide a well-formed and comprehensive education whereas policy-makers and institutions of higher education desire that practice of teaching-learning programs match to state’s professed aims and the socio-economic profile thus fulfill the demands of employment and market. Hence, there is a dis-connection between the goals and the expectations of teaching-learning Social Sciences in general.

The teaching practices in undergraduate classes continue with its quasi-symmetric approach where the compulsions and implications of knowledge production are based on persistence and change in hegemonic social condition in our society. Exclusion of a large section of the society, over the years, for multiple conditions/ ascribed reasons has resulted in a scenario where intellectual interrogations and research in the field continue to replicate the inequalities and power divisions. Further, set nomenclature of teaching and examination credit system does not give space for initiative and creativity. Therefore, we have a disproportionately high number of overqualified populations who are unable to find white-collar or professional jobs.



Conclusion

To go back to the question as to what we want to accomplish, it will be pertinent to remember that we are not only facing changed requirements from students in context of globalization, but also we are being challenged by pseudo-researchers who are in the market to provide support to industry with half-baked social impact studies. On the positive side, present times have opened up windows for free flow of knowledge and pooling of knowledge base through networking. We can conclude by saying that time is ripe now for us to take stock of the situation and devise strategies in course designing and teaching practices that not only address the concerns of our students, but also prepare them to face the travail and trials of market.